1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to puzzle-type games and, more particularly, is concerned with a cyclic plane computer game for creating and implementing puzzle-type games employing cyclic translational and rotational moves of selected groups of game objects on sites of a two-dimensional game field displayed on a computer monitor screen to reposition the game objects on the sites of the game field from an initial pattern to a final desired pattern.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Computer games are played on computer systems. A typical computer system include a central processing unit or microprocessor, a floppy or hard disk memory, a display monitor, a movable cursor displayed on the monitor, and one or more input devices, usually a mouse, keyboard and/or joystick, for sending instructions to the microprocessor for causing movement of the cursor and performance of other functions. The computer game is provided in the form of a software program typically stored on the floppy or hard disk memory and the internal memory of the microprocessor of the computer system. During operation of the software program, the microprocessor causes display of images on the screen of the display monitor and produces changes in the images in response to actuation of the input device by the player.
Due to the growing presence and usage of computers in the home, many mechanical type games which have been widely enjoyed heretofore will likely be implemented as computer games so that they can continue to be enjoyed by people now using computers. In fact, some puzzle-type games have already been implemented as computer games. Examples of several puzzle computer games are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,296,845 to Hallet and U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,113 to Ta-Hsien et al.
The Haller patent discloses a computer system employing left and right keyboards used with a software program for playing games or solving puzzles. The software program causes generation of a plurality of partial pictures randomly arranged in a grid of columns and rows on the screen of a display monitor. The left keyboard has a rectangular pattern of keys used for direct exchange of the positions occupied by two of the partial pictures. The direct exchange is carried out by depressing any two keys on the left keyboard. The exchanged partial pictures can be located within any of the columns or rows. The right keyboard has a pair of keys designating "yes" and "no" functions for moving the displayed picture column by column either left or right and a pair of keys designating "+" and "-" functions for turning a selected partial picture in either a clockwise direction or counterclockwise direction by 90.degree. for each depression of the appropriate key.
The Ta-Hwien et al patent discloses a video puzzle cube game in which a plurality of keys are used to drive a computer game software program to show a hexahedron pattern having six sides. Each side of the pattern is divided into nine equal divisions. Each division is further divided into nine blanks filled with or for filling with squares.
The above-identified patents appear to represent steps in the right direction for implementing puzzle-type games as computer games. However, these patents appear to provide approaches which are too limited in the variety of moves allowed and in their degree of difficulty to be successful in transforming mechanical puzzle-type games into enjoyable computer game puzzles and in creating new puzzle-type computer games. For example, one of the most popular mechanical puzzle games is a game well-known as Rubik's Cube. The puzzle game consists of twenty-seven small cubes which are color identified and are combined in a manner to form a large cube and permit the rotation of each of the six faces of the large cube in order to change the respective locations of each of the small cubes relative to one another in order to arrive at a desired pattern or arrangement. Another popular mechanical puzzle game is know as Fifteen Bars by Lloyd. It has an enclosed frame with sixteen spaces in a four-by-four grid and fifteen square bars occupying fifteen of the spaces, leaving one space open. The bars can be moved in orthogonal directions such that any one of the bars bordering the one open space can be moved into that one space leaving its previous position as the new open space. It is unlikely that these mechanical puzzle games could be implemented nor that many new puzzle-type games could be created merely by employing the approaches of the above-described patents.
Consequently, a need still exists for a different approach to implement and create a wider variety of puzzles as computer games.